Second Chances
by dragonflybeach
Summary: Between their pride and their hearts, sometimes people do really stupid things. And sometimes there just aren't any easy answers.
1. Chapter 1

A/N - I'm warning you now, this one may contain a few facets that may bother people. There is a cross-gen scene, but everyone is of legal age. There ia also M/M slash. It's not graphic, more lemonade made from frozen concentrate than lemons. It's nowhere near as graphic or as triggering as The Prisoner.

Okay, you've been warned. Now on with the story.

* * *

The first time she remembered talking to Draco, she couldn't have been more than four years old. Mum's boss at The Daily Prophet had called, telling her that Marty Belden, the top ranked Quidditch player in the world, had called a press conference in one hour, reportedly to announce his retirement. Dad was off on a mission, the boys were off with Uncle George, Aunt Hermione was at work, Grandma was sick with the flu, and Mum couldn't reach Aunt Fleur or Aunt Audrey. Left with no other options, Mum had taken Lily along with her to the press conference.

He was the first person they had seen off the elevator.

"Malfoy," her mother paled. "I'm sorry, I was called on short notice and couldn't find a sitter. I promise she won't be any bother."

"Why don't you take her up to my office?" the man offered. "Scorpius is there, coloring. Astoria is at St Mungo's. Her sister just had a baby. My secretary can keep an eye on the both of them."

"You are a life saver." Mum gushed, tugging Lily toward the lift, taking her to the owner's office.

Lily was taken to a plush office with thick carpets and heavy mahogany furniture. A boy about Al's age was drawing pictures of Quidditch players.

"What kind of broom is that supposed to be?" she asked the boy.

Thus began an odd friendship between the two families. Al and Scorpius got on well. James and Scorpius got on better, both being Quidditch fanatics. Scorp and Lily were best friends. And Lily, for whatever reason, over the years, became closer to Scorp's dad than she was her own parents. Astoria was polite but distant. Ginny and Draco had a cordial working relationship. Harry and Draco never exchanged anything but curt nods and barked out last names.

All three Potter children were guests at Malfoy Manor on a regular basis, but Lily far more than her brothers. Scorp was always welcome at the Potter household. Scorpius, James, and Draco tried to teach Al and Lily to play Quidditch. Al just wasn't interested. Lily, for as much as she loved to watch the game, was hopeless as a player. Fortunately she was perfectly content to watch Falcons games from the owner's box with Scorp and Draco, and later at Hogwarts watch James as the Gryffindor chaser and Scorp as the Slytherin seeker.

When Lily was sorted into Slytherin, Draco was the first person she wrote too. He wrote back, telling her how proud he was of her, and sending her a box filled with Slytherin everything. Quills, journals, penants, tee shirts, a book bag, and a tie pin that she was sure had once been his.

Lily's parents never batted an eye about her apparent adoption into the Malfoy family until the day Harry had proudly informed Scorp of the fact one of Lily's articles was being published in The Daily Prophet, and Scorp told them that the Malfoys had known for days.

Even so, the Potters could find no real reason to object to Scorp and Lily's relationship. He always treated her well, never pressured her into situations she wasn't ready for, and would have protected her with his life. Harry grudgingly admitted that Scorp was a good kid, even if he was a Malfoy, and wouldn't make a bad son in law, if things ever came to that point.

Al and Scorp graduated first and second in their class at Hogwarts. Both families cheered them proudly, and Lily didn't notice until she looked at the pictures later that her dad and Draco stood on opposite sides of the stage, both gazing at the two boys with the exact same sadness in their eyes.

Al went on to auror training, while Scorp signed on as the seeker for the Falcons.


	2. Chapter 2

Two weeks after her Hogwarts graduation, Lily and Scorp were in Diagon Alley at the ice cream shop when her father hurried over to their table.

"Scorpius, you're needed at home right away." Harry told him. He paused, looking from the young man to his daughter. "Lils, you'd probably better go with him."

Fear shot down her spine as she reached in her bag for some coins to put on the table.

"I've got it." her father said, and Lily was even more frightened.

Harry followed them back to the Manor, where they arrived to find Draco waiting impatiently.

"What is this about, Potter?" he demanded. "I have a sponsorship meeting in two hours with representatives of the Nimbus Broom Company."

Potter sighed, shoving his still unruly hair from his face. "You'd better sit down."

Their eyes met for a moment, and Draco froze.

"My mother or Astoria?" he asked softly.

Lilly stepped between Draco and Scorpius, grabbing their arms and pulling them down onto the sofa so that she sat between them.

"Astoria." Harry confirmed.

"What? No!" Scorp's eyes widened. "My mum is fine. I spoke with her last night. She's at my Aunt Daphne's vacation home in Spain."

"A boating accident." Harry murmured. "She's gone." He then added as an afterthought. "Your Aunt Daphne and her family are fine."

"No. It's not possible." Scorp shook his head as the tears began.

Lily pulled his head to her shoulder with a glance at Draco, who was shocked into immobility.

Harry cleared his throat. "Malfoy." He glanced toward the door.

Draco nodded stiffly and followed him into the hall.

They returned ten minutes later, Draco obviously still too much in shock to show any further reaction.

Harry knelt in front of Scorpius, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I am so, so sorry. If there's anything we can do, you know my family is here for you."

Scorp nodded, so Harry stood and nodded at Draco, making his way back to the floo.

Draco finally broke down after Harry left.

Scorp and Draco had alternated between tears and rage and stony silence the rest of the day and evening. Lily flooed her parents to say she was going to stay over.

Harry nodded solemnly and simply said "Take care of them." It didn't strike her as odd until much later that he had included Draco in that statement.

Lily finally convinced Scorp to take some dreamless sleep and tucked him into bed, promising she would be there in the morning. She made her way back downstairs to sit with Draco, who had broken out the firewhiskey. She was somewhat surprised, because she had never seen him drink at home, only maybe a glass of wine at a party occasionally.

"I don't know what happened." he said, downing his third glass of whiskey. "She was supposed to be in the Azores with her sister. She was off the coast of Malta with some man I've never heard off. They were apparently alone on the boat, and now they're both dead. I don't know why or how or who he was or what happened. And we probably never will."

After his seventh glass, she took the bottle from him. "You've had enough." she said firmly, taking a shot herself.

"No." he said as authoritatively as anyone falling down drunk could. "Potters shub ... should not drink."

She tugged on his arm. "Come on, let's go upstairs."

He paled. "I can't. I can't she ... sleep in our rum."

"All right." she nodded. "Then let's take you to my room."

She led him upstairs to the room she always used when she stayed over. She settled him into the bed and turned out the lights.

And then she slid into the bed beside him.

"Lily, what are you ... "

"Shhhh," she murmured against his lips. "Let me take the pain away."

He kissed her back, long and deep, before he pulled his mouth away. "This is wrong."

"I know." she whispered. "But sometimes everything is wrong with the world."

She kissed him again, and Draco let her. Then she sat up, pulling her shirt over her head, and he let her do that too. She slid her hand down the front of his pants, and Draco stopped thinking.


	3. Chapter 3

She and Scorpius were already downstairs and had coffee made when Draco awoke. The two Malfoy men poked absently at their breakfasts. Finally, Scorp stood, dumped his plate in the sink, and stretched.

"I'm going to get a shower. Then I suppose we'll have to set the ... arrangements."

Draco nodded. Lily gave him a sad smile.

"Thanks for being here, Lils." Scorp kissed her forehead, then headed upstairs.

As soon as he heard his son's bedroom door shut, Draco turned to Lily.

"Last night was a mistake." His heart clenched as he said the words. He knew how much they hurt. Even as he said them to her, his mind drifted back twenty seven years to the morning they had been said to him.

"I don't think it was." she sipped her coffee, not meeting his eyes.

"Lily, it was fifteen kinds of wrong!" he cried. "You were a virgin, for Merlin's sake! If you had told me that before the point of no return, I most definitely would have stopped!" he convulsed his fists and shook his head.

"I know. That's why I didn't tell you." she shrugged.

"You are younger than my son!" he continued. "You're my son's best friend. Scorp is half in love with you! My wife has been dead less than twenty four hours. Your father and I ... " he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. For some reason, the gesture reminded Lily of her father. "Do I need to go on?"

"No." she shook her head. "You've made your point pretty clearly." She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "I don't regret last night. Not one second of it, other than the fact you're so upset over it. I've loved you since I was a child. There is no one I have ever wanted to give myself to other than you." She stood and cleared off the table. "I understand. We won't ever mention it again."

"Lily, be reasonable about this." he sighed again repeating another phrase that had been said to him that long ago morning.

"I'm not reasonable when it comes to you, Draco." She stood and walked upstairs.

He had to give her credit. She was strong. She hadn't cried and begged and offered up her soul the way Draco had.

The next few days, including the wake and the funeral, were incredibly awkward. Draco and Lily both reached out to touch or hug as they had done freely over the years, but pulled back from one another at the last minute.

If anyone noticed, they graciously blamed it on the situation and didn't say anything.

Lily didn't spend as much time at the Manor that summer as she had before. Of course, Scorp didn't either, and Draco was practically living in his office. Daphne came by to check on them, and mentioned that it was if some dreadful curse had been placed over all of them with Astoria's death.

Draco came home at a reasonable time one evening, and was staring into the fire with a glass of brandy in his hand when the flames turned green. Lily stepped out.

"Oh, um, hi." she stammered. "Is Scorp home?"

"No, he's not home yet." Draco said, looking into his glass.

"Draco."

He looked up at her.

"Can I stay a while?" she asked, looking about ten years old.

He sighed. "I don't think that's a good idea, Lily."

She wrapped her arms around her waist as if trying to hold herself together. "Yeah." she nodded, tears in her eyes. "You're probably right." She stumbled into the fireplace, her voice breaking as she threw the floo powder and called her destination.

"Lily ... " Draco started to stand.

She was already gone.

On the day she was to start journalism classes at the muggle university, Lily disappeared. She left a note to her parents, and a nearly identical one to Scorp, telling them that this was just something she had to do, to please just let her go, and she would be in touch when she was ready.

A month went by without a word from her. Scorp was ready to quit the team to go look for her.

Two more weeks passed. The guilt was killing Draco, because he knew he should have talked to her that night at the Manor.

His office door opened, and the Head Auror walked in.

"You know why I'm here." Potter said without preamble.

Draco nodded.

Very few knew, but Draco had been trained in stealth and tracking by Voldemort. By the age of seventeen, he had been the best tracker in the world. One of the conditions of his release from custody was that he "cooperate with the Ministry in any and all tasks asked of him." In other words, they called him from time to time when the Aurors needed to find someone.

He was honestly surprised Harry Potter had waited this long to use all the assets at his disposal.

"I'll come with you." Potter offered.

"No." Draco shook his head. "I'll have more chance of bringing her back if I speak to her alone."

Potter nodded. "I just want to know that she's all right."

Draco drew his lips together for a second before answering. "Me too."

It took him three weeks to find her. That was the longest he had ever taken to track someone.

But Lily Luna Potter was the daughter of the head auror, sister of an auror trainee, and apparently really didn't want to be found.

She obviously wasn't hiding from any sort of dangerous enemy, because when he finally tracked her to a little cottage on the outskirts of a muggle college town in South Carolina, she didn't even have wards around the place.

He walked up to find her wrapped in a light blanket against the early autumn chill, curled in a chair on the wide front porch with a book in her hand. Her face betrayed the fact that she had known he would come and she had hoped he wouldn't.

"A lot of people have been very worried about you." he said, sitting down in the other rocking chair.

"So go home and tell them I'm fine." she answered, looking away from him.

"Come back with me." He reached a hand toward her, but she shrank back.

"I can't." she spoke so softly he had to strain to hear her. "I can never go back."

"Why not?" he asked, his face full of concern.

"Just stop, Draco." tears filled her eyes as she pulled the blanket more tightly around herself. "Just stop. I can't go back, ever. Just leave. Tell everyone I'm fine, and I'll be in touch when I'm ready, but please don't tell them where I am."

"Why?" he demanded.

"Because I asked you to. This will be the last favor I will ever ask from you, and trust me, it is the most important one. Please, just do it." she was barely holding back the sobs.

"Give me one good reason." he ordered, his voice harsh. "One reason good enough to explain why you've walked away from your family and friends without even letting them know you're still alive. One reason I shouldn't bring your father here tonight with a team to escort you to St Mungos psych unit for your own good. One reason why you broke my son's heart!"

"I have dozens." she drew even further into herself. "Please just trust me."

He stood to tower over her intimidatingly. "Give me one reason, Lily."

She stood, pushing the blanket off her shoulders, her hands coming down to cradle around her rounded belly.

"Is this one good enough?" she glared.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N - Now things really get complicated.

* * *

An hour later, Draco couldn't remember what he had said. He remembered feeling sick all the way down to his soul. He remembered stumbling back to his rental car and driving back to the main highway, where he found a liquor store and a cheap motel, in that order. He sat on the side of the bed, drinking the muggle bourbon straight from the bottle. There was a knock on the door.

"Go away." he said without any real emotion.

"Malfoy, open the door."

As if the world could cave in any further, it did at that moment.

He flicked his wand at the door, knowing if he didn't, it would be forcefully opened in less than a moment.

He stood to face the father of the girl he had ruined. He should have known Potter would be trailing him.

"You've seen her." Potter hissed.

"Yeah." Draco nodded, looking away.

"What's wrong? How bad can it be? Take me to her!" Potter's voice got higher and more panicked.

Draco shook his head. "Give her some time. Let her get her head together. I'll go back and talk to her tomorrow. If you try to go over there wand blazing, she'll bolt again."

Potter's shoulders slumped. "Tell me she's all right."

"Physically, she appears to be fine." Draco confirmed. "Mentally, she's got some things to work through. Some decisions to make."

"Then take me to her!" Potter shouted. "I'm her father. I'll help her."

"You can't help her with this." Draco murmured.

"Why not? What's going on?" he grabbed Draco by the arm. "Dammit, tell me!"

"She's pregnant."

Potter deflated again. "Did she and Scorp have a fight? Is that why? I can't imagine he would have turned his back, and he would have been beside himself if he ... "

Draco took a deep breath and then interrupted. "Scorpius is not the father."

"What?" Potter was completely shocked. "Was she raped? Lily is not the kind of girl ... "

"No, she wasn't raped." Draco sighed.

"Then ... how ... who?" Potter stammered. "You know, don't you?"

Draco didn't answer, looked over toward the nightstand where the bottle of bourbon rested.

"Tell me, Malfoy." Potter ordered.

Draco shook his head. "Let it go. Let her tell you when she's ready."

"Answer me!" Potter grabbed the front of his shirt. "Who is the father of her baby?"

"I am!" Draco shouted. "It's my kid! All right? Happy now?"

One of Potter's hands let go of Draco's shirt and connected with his jaw before the blond could even move.

"You son of a bitch!" Potter growled as Draco hit the floor.

Draco rolled over and brought himself up onto his hands and knees before Potter's boot caught him in the ribs.

"You sorry motherfucker! This is your revenge, isn't it?" Potter screamed. "How many years have you plotted this?"

Draco reached over and yanked Potter's feet out from under him, landing a punch in the small of the auror's back on the way down.

"All these years, you still think this is about you?" Draco sneered. "You're more stuck on yourself than any Slytherin ever was."

"You couldn't have me, so you fucked one of my kids?" Potter spat. "I'm surprised you didn't choose Al. He's the one who looks like me."

"Do you think I did this on purpose?" Draco cried incredulously. "Do you think I would do that to my son?"

"I think you hate me so much you didn't care who you hurt to get even with me." Potter growled.

"For the head auror, you're pretty fucking clueless sometimes." Draco sniped.

"Fine, then enlighten me." Potter rolled his eyes. "How did it come about that you knocked up my teenage daughter?"

"It was the night Astoria died. I was drunk and she crawled into bed with me." Draco sat up, leaning against the side of the bed.

"That's no excuse." Potter grumbled.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Draco scrambled to his feet, stalking away. "That was your excuse, that night. You were drunk and did things you shouldn't have done."

"Well I certainly never fucked any men when I was sober!" Potter protested. "Besides, this is a little different. We were both eighteen, not one eighteen and one forty six! And you couldn't have fallen pregnant!"

"So that makes it all right that I opened my heart to you, and you ripped it out and stomped on it? Because you couldn't get me pregnant?" Draco seethed.

"Malfoy, seriously?" Potter gestured with both hands. "I was going into auror training. You were going to prison. I was a half blood commoner. You were the Malfoy heir. I couldn't take a piss without it ending up on the front page of The Prophet. I still can't believe no one ever found about what happened with us."

"But I was willing to give up everything for you." Draco shook his head sadly. "I would have been disowned, but I didn't care. Where was your fucking Gryffindor courage?" He stomped across the room to grab two handfuls of Harry's shirt. "I know you loved me. But you were too fucking scared to admit it. Even to yourself."

Potter looked down at the fists knotted in the front of his shirt, and then up to his captor's face. "Draco." he breathed.

In an instant their mouths crashed together and Harry's hands were in Draco's hair and Draco's hands pulled Harry's shirt open and somehow they were falling onto the bed and their mouths were still fused and their tongues swirled together and clothes were literally ripped off and Harry's hand closed around Draco and Draco's around Harry and they were stroking one another and panting and still kissing one another until Harry threw his head back to groan as his climax hit him and Draco followed him over the edge a moment later and they melted into the bed in a tangle of limbs and half off clothing and sheets, panting and shuddering.

"So help me," Draco said as soon as he could speak. "If you tell me that was a mistake I will fucking avada you right here and now."

"What if I say we just infinitely complicated matters further?" Harry asked, his breath still uneven.

"I'll go along with that." Draco answered.

"I can't believe I let that happen." Harry groaned.

"If it makes you feel any better, you're the only man I've ever been with either." Draco sighed.

"We cannot continue to do this." Harry reached for his wand, cleaning both of them up with a spell.

"So you're just going to walk out of my life again?" Draco asked, temper flaring once more.

"No, I don't think it's possible for either of us to be out of one another's lives, considering you made my daughter pregnant!" Harry fumed.

"Oh, Merlin." Draco groaned, laying on his back and covering his face with both hands. "Harry, I swear. I was shocked when she told me she had loved me for years. I never ... This is such a fucking mess."

"Scorp has no idea, does he?" Harry asked softly.

"It's going to kill him." Draco muttered mournfully.

"What are you going to do?" Harry gently pulled Draco's hands away from his face.

"I won't turn my back on her." Draco promised. "Beyond that, I don't know. It goes against everything I was raised to believe to allow her to have the child out of wedlock. On the other hand, the thought of marrying a girl I treated almost as a daughter for all those years, a girl my own son loves ... " He trailed off, shaking his head.

He looked over to where Harry lay on the other pillow, facing Draco. Draco scooted closer, laying his head against Harry's chest and wrapping his arms around Harry's waist.

Harry slid his arms around Draco. "This isn't going to solve anything." he sighed, snuggling closer.

"I know." was the muffled response.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry and Draco lay in each other's arms, not speaking, for at least an hour before Harry finally reached down beside the bed and found his wand to turn out the lights.

After a few more minutes, Harry finally broke the silence. "I want to be there tomorrow when you talk to her."

Draco nodded.

They were silent a little longer before Draco said "At some point we're going to have to talk about this. I know you love Ginny, and I'm not going to break up your marriage, but I'm not going to let you go without a fight this time."

Harry sighed. "I wish you hadn't then."

* * *

At 7:30 the next morning, someone was pounding on the front door.

Lily ignored it.

"Lily, I know you're in there. Open the door!" Draco called.

She slipped on her shoes and tiptoed through the house, careful to remain out of sight of the front door. She crossed the kitchen and opened the back door to make her escape.

Harry Potter stood there, arms crossed.

She hung her head.

"Go let Malfoy in." her father ordered, his voice harsh."We're going to talk."

He followed her back through the house as she threw open the front door and turned sulkily, stomping into the sitting room and flinging herself onto the couch. Draco sat in the chair across from her, and Harry sat on the arm of the chair.

"Is this the part where you play Good Auror, Bad Auror?" she snapped.

"No, this is the part where two angry fathers ask you what the hell you were thinking." Harry retorted.

"You don't have to treat me like a child!" she retorted. "I was of the age of consent ... "

"But I wasn't fully consenting, when I was drunk off my arse and out of my mind with grief!" Draco barely kept his voice below a shout.

"You didn't seem to mind at the time." she reminded him smugly.

"You told me you were going to make the pain go away." Draco sighed. "Why didn't you just give me Dreamless Sleep and put me to bed like you did Scorp?"

"Wait." Harry's voice had a dangerously speculative quality. "You gave Scorp Dreamless Sleep before you slept with his drunken father? You planned this!"

Lily didn't deny it.

Draco stomped out of the room and they heard his fist or boot connect with a wall.

"How could you, Lily?" Harry asked.

"I've loved him since I was a little girl. I wanted him to be my first. I knew that night was probably my only chance." she answered, not looking quite so sure of herself any more.

"How could you do that to Draco and Scorpius?" Harry cried. "Did you think Scorpius would never find out? That boy loves you, and you can't imagine how badly this is going to break his heart! Draco and I haven't exactly been friends all these years, but one thing I can say for him, the man loves his son. This is going to destroy their relationship. Possibly beyond repair. You ruined both their lives so you could seduce a man old enough to be your father? A man who acted like your father almost as much as I did?"

"I'll fix it." she whispered, sounding like a frightened child.

"How?" Harry shook his head. "You're obviously too far gone to get rid of the child, not that I would have condoned that action to begin with. Are you going to give the baby up for adoption? How do you think you're going to feel, knowing you have a child out there somewhere, that you don't know where the child is or if they're safe? You're selfish enough to put Draco through that too? You plan to just wait it out, come home with a baby, and hope Scorp doesn't notice any family resemblance? You think your mother and I or maybe Draco are going to raise the child while you go along your merry way?"

"I will never give up mine and Draco's child." she pouted stubbornly.

"So you're just going to crucify Scorp's heart instead?" Harry stood, looking toward the doorway Draco had gone through. "You're my daughter and I still love you, I will always love you, but I don't like you very much right now."

He followed Draco into the dining room, leaving Lily to wonder what she had done to them all.

* * *

She found them at the small square table, Draco with his face buried in his hands, and her father, to her surprise, next to him, hand on Draco's shoulder.

"What is all this?" she asked, frowning. "Since when do the two of you like each other?"

Harry sighed. "We never got along when we were kids. We actually made peace for a while, after the war, but we had a ... difference of opinion when we were eighteen. Last night, we decided that the past was the past."

"Okay." she nodded, not knowing what else to say.

"You're going to tell Scorp." Harry informed her. "He's been worried sick about you. He wanted to quit the team to come find you. All these years he's been by your side, the least you can do is let him hear the truth straight from you."

She nodded again.

"Are you coming home, or do I need to bring him here?" Harry asked.

"I'll come home." she said softly.

"Go pack." her father pointed toward the door.

Thanks to magic, she was packed within ten minutes. Harry withdrew the transatlantic portkey from his pocket, and minutes later, they were standing outside Grimmauld Place.

"Come in and floo to the Manor." Harry told them. "Both of you are too emotional to try to apparate right now. I'll hold off your mother until you're gone."

Draco and Lily both nodded, following him in to the house. Ginny started up the stairs from the kitchen when she heard the front door open, but Harry blocked the doorway until he heard the floo activate in the living room.

"She's all right." Harry assured his wife. "She's going to talk to Scorp first. And then we're going to have a lot to talk about."


	6. Chapter 6

Scorpius did not take the news well.

He shouted. He threw things. He raised his hand to hit his father, but Draco caught his arm in midair, a leftover benefit of his Death Eater soldier training. In the end, he stormed out of the house, slamming the door. Draco sank onto the sofa, burying his face in his hands.

Lily moved to sit beside him, sliding her arm around his waist. "It will be okay." she said softly. "We'll get through this. He'll come around and learn to accept us."

"There is no _us!"_ Draco shouted, yanking away from her to stand. "I'll be there for my child. That's it. Anything beyond that would hurt Scorp even more. Scorpius has been my number one priority since the day he was born. Even _before_ he was born. If you don't know me well enough to understand that, I don't see how you can _think_ you love me."

"Draco, please." she pleaded, tears in her eyes.

"Don't, Lily." he held out his hand to ward her away.

"We can make this work." she begged.

"There is nothing to work." he shook his head.

"But don't you want to be there with her, every day, like you were with Scorp?" she argued.

"Of course I do, but I'm not going to sacrifice Scorp to do it!" he cried.

"I just want us to be together." she reached out a hand toward him.

"It's _never_ going to happen." he told her firmly.

"Then maybe I should go back to America!" she shouted.

She spun on her heel and almost dashed for the floo. She nearly fell out of the fireplace on the other end, blinded by her tears. She threw herself into her mother's waiting arms, sobbing "He hates me!"

"Which one?" Harry asked.

Ginny scowled at him over Lily's head.

"Both of them!" she wailed.

"Scorp doesn't hate you, but I'm sure he's very angry and hurt. And do you still not realize what kind of position you've put Draco in?" Harry asked her.

"Lily, honey, you've got to calm down." Ginny soothed. "All this upset is not good for your baby."

"I'll be back." Harry sighed.

He flooed to the Manor, where he found Draco back on the sofa with his face in his hands. He raised his head when he heard the floo, only to drop it again.

"You were hoping for Scorp." Harry said softly, sitting beside Draco and putting both arms around him.

Draco nodded, moving his head to Harry's shoulder.

"Convince me that you'll be okay while I'm gone and I will go find him." Harry offered.

"I'm not sure anything will ever be okay again." Draco sniffed. "She wants me to choose between my children. Be with her and lose Scorp forever, or try to work things out with Scorp and let her leave the country with my daughter."

Harry leaned his head against Draco's. "She doesn't understand. She's still a child herself, in many ways."

"She's destroyed Scorp." Draco sighed. "She has no idea how badly she's hurt him. He needs me and I'm the one person he can't turn to right now."

"I'll find him and talk to him." Harry promised. He tilted Draco's head up and kissed his lips. "Stay here. Try to hold it together. I'll be back."

Draco nodded, and Harry kissed him again. "I'll be back." he repeated.

Harry walked out the front door of the Manor. Draco and Scorpius looked alike physically, but their personalities were very different. Scorp was an extrovert, more likely to act out physically. Draco was an internalizer, more likely to react magically. Scorp left the house on foot, rather than by floo or apparation. Harry bet that meant he was still on the grounds somewhere.

With that thought in mind, it didn't take long to find Scorpius sitting by his mother's grave.

He looked up with a sneer when Harry approached. "Are you here as the auror, or as Lily's dad?" he asked.

Harry sat on the grass next to him without invitation. "I'm here as Harry, the man who's spent a lot of time with you over the years and was worried about you."

"I was a fool." Scorp plucked a blade of grass and fidgeted with it aimlessly. "I thought the fact she spent so much time with me, the fact she never so much as looked at another guy meant she felt the same way about me." he snorted. "The whole time she was just waiting for a chance to get into my _father's_ bed."

"I think Lily's starting to realize what a mistake she made." Harry told him softly. "And your father is sick over this whole thing. He's beside himself knowing how much you're hurting."

"Why couldn't it have been _anyone_ else?" Scorp moaned. "I could have dealt better if it had been any of my friends. Or any of her friends. But my _father?"_

Harry shook his head. "I can't answer that one. Only Lily can. I don't think she even knows."

"She wants to marry him." Scorp snorted. "The love of my life will be my stepmother."

"He told her that he won't marry her." Scorp looked up sharply and Harry continued. "It's really bothering him, that his child will be born illegitimate, but he told her that it would hurt you too much to marry her."

Scorp's eyes widened. "He doesn't want her? But she's beautiful and smart and funny ... "

"He loves you too much to do that to you. And he doesn't see her that way." Harry shook his head again. "He looks at her and he sees the little girl he yelled at for sliding down the stair railing after you. He sees her as _your_ girl. He doesn't see her as a woman."

"But he slept with her." Scorp argued.

"He did." Harry agreed. "But he was drunk and devastated over your mother, and knowing what else I know about the situation, I wouldn't be surprised to find out Lily slipped something in his drink to encourage the situation."

"She's not the person I thought she was." Scorp sighed.

"I know." Harry looked out toward the horizon. "I'm very disappointed in her too."

"I don't even know what to do now." Scorp picked another blade of grass and began shredding it.

"Go home." Harry told him firmly. "Your dad needs you and you need him. As far as Lily goes," her father sighed. "I can't tell you what to do, other than not to make any decisions that will affect the rest of your life while you're angry. Give yourself some time and distance to get your head around everything."

Scorp nodded, rising to his feet. Harry stood as well. Before the older man realized what had happened, Scorp caught him in a bear hug.

"Thank you." the young man whispered. "Thank you for always being there all these years. Thank you for being my second dad."

"I was glad to do it." Harry said sincerely, tears pricking his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

The Malfoy men talked almost all night. In the end, neither of them had any answers as to what they were going to do about Lily, but they were in agreement that the situation was not going to tear father and son apart.

Draco accompanied Lily to St Mungos to see a healer, who confirmed her due date and the fact the baby was a girl. It would be the first girl in the Malfoy family in four generations. Draco had remained subdued about the news.

At the end of the week, the Falcons left to go on a month long road trip, playing matches in Europe, America, and Asia. Draco went for part of the trip, making sure Harry had a detailed copy of the intinerary and could reach Draco immediately if Lily or the baby needed him.

For the first time ever, Scorp went on a trip and Lily didn't receive owls and muggle postcards.

Ginny and Harry talked about it late at night, after Lily had gone to bed.

"She hadn't heard from him the whole time she was gone." Harry protested.

"She's watched too many muggle movies and read too many novels." Ginny shook her head. "She really expected Draco to come find her and the baby, realize he loved her, and ask her to marry him. It was all very romantic and dramatic in her mind. But she never stopped to think about how much she would miss Scorp, and what it would be like not to have him around."

"She's an adult." Harry said firmly. "She made her own decisions, and now she has to live with the consequences."

"She's eighteen." Ginny sighed. "Face it, even the two of us, who had been through a war, had no idea how the world worked and shouldn't have been making life altering decisions at eighteen."

"Yeah." Harry nodded stiffly.

He walked outside and looked up at the stars. Ginny left him alone, presuming he was thinking about Lily's situation.

He was actually thinking about the morning he walked away from the person he would always love, when he was eighteen.

* * *

Draco found his son staring forlornly into a glass of Ogdens at the hotel bar.

"You miss her." he said, sliding into the booth across from Scorp.

"Yeah." Scorpius nodded.

"You have to decide if you can forgive her." Draco told him. "You're the only one who can make that decision."

"I just don't know what to do." Scorp shook his head.

"Let me tell you a story." Draco began. "I loved someone else before your mother."

Scorp looked up, clearly surprised.

Draco nodded. "It was a person who had been at school with me. Someone I wasn't exactly friends with, but every time I walked in the Great Hall, I took note of where that person was. I had never given much thought as to what exactly I felt for this person, but at the Battle of Hogwarts, I saw him fallen ... "

"Him?" Scorp's eyebrows shot to the top of his head.

"Yeah. Him." Draco confirmed. "I saw him fallen, and I thought he was dead. I realized for the first time that I loved him. The only thing I could think was that it was too late to tell him. But he wasn't dead. The first chance I got, I went to him. He loved me too. Neither one of us thought of ourselves as gay. He was the only man I'd ever been attracted to and it was the same for him with me. But when it was all said and done, he bowed to what was expected of him. He was afraid to have a relatonship with a man publicly, afraid of what other people would say. He married and had kids. I married your mother. I was happy with her, and we had you. But part of me will always wonder what would have happened if I hadn't let him walk away without a fight." Draco looked at Scorpius. "That's what you have to decide about Lily. Whether the pain of being with her is worse than the pain of being without her. She would probably marry someone else one day. With her being your sister's mother, you _will_ see her again. Can you live with seeing her with someone else?"

"Yeah, what about that?" Scorp frowned. "She is my sister's mother."

Draco took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Children are pretty remarkable in their capacity for love and acceptance. They will love anyone who loves them, regardless of that person's relationship or non-relationship to them. They will accept unbelievably screwed up situations as just fine."

"But what about when I see Lily with another man's child?" Scorp asked.

Draco folded his arms and stared at a spot on the table. "I thought I would hate his children. Because he had them with his wife, the one he chose over me. But they're half of him. I could see something of him in each of them. Then I got to know each of them individually. Now I would honestly say I love each of them for who they are."

"Harry." Scorp said softly.

Draco nodded. "No one else knows. Not Ginny or his kids or anyone. Your mother and your grandmother never knew either."

"I won't tell." Scorp shook his head. "All those years, when there was so much tension between you..."

Draco nodded again. "All those feelings were still there, buried under a lot of anger and resentment."

"And now?" his son prodded.

"He and I talked, when we went after Lily." he looked up to meet Scorp's eyes. "We admitted we still care about each other, but we accept what each other's lives are now. He's not going to leave Ginny. I'd probably beat his arse if he tried. If your mother was still alive I would still be with her."

"You and Lily ... " Scorp breathed. "Oh, Merlin..."

Draco bit his lip. "Now you understand why I wouldn't have done it, had I been in my right mind."

Scorp pushed the glass of whiskey across the table toward his father. Draco tossed it back without hesitation and set the glass back in front of his son.

"Now." he crossed his arms. "This isn't about Harry and me. This is about Lily and you."

"I don't know what to do." Scorp sighed.

"Take the rest of the trip to figure it out." Draco told him. "I'm going home tomorrow. You'll have some space and distance to work on things. But you know if you need me ... "

Scorpius nodded. "Thanks Dad."


End file.
